Diocese of Covington - Messenger at 402 E. 21st Street, Covington, KY 41015 US - Penitential Rite - Confiteor

Priest:  Brethren (brothers and sisters), let us acknowledge our sins,

            and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

Priest & People:            

            I confess to almighty God

and to you, my brothers and sisters,

that I have greatly sinned,

in my thoughts and in my words,

in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,

And, striking their breast, they say:

through my fault, through my fault,

through my most grievous fault;

Then they continue:

therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,

all the Angels and Saints,

and you, my brothers and sisters,

to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Priest:       May almighty God have mercy on us,

forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.

People:      Amen.

Penitential Rite — Confiteor

The goal of the Christian life is to be sanctified, or made holy, and so truly express in our very being the One who has made us and thus spend eternity with Him in heaven. And yet, in our daily lives, we often do things that create a hindrance to living out our potential as co-heirs with Christ. For this reason, the Church gives us the great Sacrament of Penance where we are brought back into right relationship with God and one another. And it is also the reason why within Her liturgical prayer the Church keeps our sins before our eyes within the Penitential Rite.

Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, we are all sinners and are all in need of forgiveness. The Penitential Rite draws out a truth that can often be uncomfortable — we have sinned. The priest therefore instructs us that before we can enter into the Sacred Mysteries — encountering Christ in the Scriptures and in the Blessed Sacrament — we must acknowledge that we are indeed sinners.

Ritualistically, the priest can choose one of three forms in order for this to be accomplished. Form A is known as the Confiteor, which simply means “I confess.” And that is what we do; we confess as individuals, both to God and to one another, that we are sinners. Both in the things we have done, and the things we have failed to do.

In studying the 3^rd Edition of the Roman Missal we see that the Church is asking us to recognize not only that we have sinned, but that we have “greatly sinned.” We echo the confession of King David: "Then David said to God, 'I have sinned greatly in doing this thing.'" (1Chr 21:8) and in doing so become aware that all sin, venial or mortal, is greatly offensive to God.

Recognizing our sins, however, is not enough. We must take responsibility for them and so the thrice “mea culpa” has been restored to the Confiteor. “Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault …” It is no accident that the Church has us repeat the “mea culpa” three times — it amplifies its significance and draws greater attention to itself — we take accountability for our sins. In addition to our words, the Church incorporates the gesture of striking the breast as we acknowledge our faults. This corresponding gesture of making a fist and striking our breast three times, however, is not to be seen as an accusatory “finger pointing,” but should be seen as a rock crushing the sin within us — destroying those stumbling blocks that keep us from the Lord and His Altar.

On the surface, it can appear that the Penitential Rite has as its focus the people gathered in prayer, but if we step back and see the whole picture, we become aware that the recognition of sins is intimately bound to their forgiveness. Therefore, the true focus of the Penitential Rite is the great and eternal mercy of God. There would be no need to examine our lives and consciences if there were no means of being forgiven. Every liturgical action, at its core, is focused on God. Let us open our eyes to his great mercy and so be able to approach the Altar of God in purity of heart and thereby enter into eternal bliss.